CARRIERE — Homestanding Pearl River Central captured the championship of the annual Pearl River County Classic over the weekend picking up a pair of wins.  “I was real pleased with our pitching this weekend,” PRC head coach Neil Walther said. “We threw 16 innings and didn’t allow an earned run and just walked three batters.  We made some errors, but I still feel like our defense will be one of our biggest strengths this year.”

The Blue Devils began their season Friday night, beating Hancock 11-3. Dylan Spiers picked up the win, pitching six innings and scattering six hits. It was his 20^th career win for the Blue Devils. Cody Miller pitched the seventh frame.

The Blue Devils got things started quickly, as Spiers cracked a three-run double that cleared the bases. Christian Travis added a two-run single in the fourth, to make it 5-0, and Christian Smith added a run scoring double to make it 6-0 in the fifth.

The Blue Devils secured the win with four

runs in the sixth, thanks to a two-run pinch hit

single by Cole Lott and an RBI pinch hit single

by Andrew Krol.

The Blue Devils followed that win up with yet another on Saturday, beating Poplarville 3-2 in nine innings to finish as the only unbeaten team in the event.

Chance Putnam pitched the first eight innings for PRC allowing five hits, while Blake Caruso pitched the final inning facing the minimum to pick up the win. PRC scored in the third when Jeshua Lee led off with a double and was followed by a Christian Smith sacrifice bunt. Wesley Mitchell then hit a sacrifice fly to put PRC up 1-0. PRC picked up another run in the fifth when Cody Miller led off with a single and was replaced with Anthony Hickman as a pinch runner. An errant pick off moved Hickman to second and Lee then sacrificed him to third where he scored one pitch later on a wild pitch. Two PRC errors set Poplarville up with two base runners in the sixth, the first of which was driven in with a Blake Ladner single to right and the second with a ground ball out in the infield. The Blue Devils won it in the ninth, as Jake Scheuerman led off with a single to left and was moved up to second on a ground ball to second by Stettson Smith. Poplarville then attempted a pick off at second that went into the outfield and under the charging center fielder’s glove to allow Scheuerman to score from second.

Chandler Ray started and went the first five for Poplarville and was relieved by Blake Ladner, who pitched the final three and a third innings in relief and took the loss.  The Blue Devils were slated to take on Bay High Monday afternoon at Pearl River Community College.

Picayune and Poplarville will also see action in Wildcats Stadium this week. The Maroon Tide was scheduled to face Ocean Springs Monday afternoon.

Picayune split a pair of games here in the county tournament over the weekend, beating Poplarville 4-3 on Friday before falling to Hancock 8-4 on Saturday.

The Maroon Tide fell behind 3-0 early against Poplarville, before rallying for the win. Mark Wood picked up the win in relief of Peyton Lee.  Wood had two hits, and Lee had a double in the win, while Hayden Falls walked twice and scored two runs as well. Falls scored the game winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a wild pitch.

In the loss to the Hawks, Dylan Breaux took the loss in six innings of work, although he allowed just four hits. Falls had a pair of hits to pace Picayune at the plate, while Lee drove in a run as well.

Poplarville took a pair of tough one run

losses in the event, losing in the bottom of the

last inning in both outings. The Hornets will

face East Central Thursday afternoon at PRCC.